The present invention is an acrobatic toy for use in particular in a child's crib or playpen.
Few sights so fascinate the young mind as the gyrations of acrobatics or trapeze artists. The curious interplay of gravity and motive force during the swinging of a gymnast often produce novel and complex aerial movements.
In acrobatic toys, since the toy figure is not normally powered to provide its own motive force, commonly the trapezist is suspended from a rotatable bar, and a mechanism is provided to rotate the bar in order to simulate acrobatic motion.
British Pat. No. 765,721 discloses a mechanical trapezist in which a clown-like figure is suspended from a horizontal trapeze bar. Through a series of gears and pulleys, the force of a hand crank or motor simultaneously swings and rotates the trapeze bar and thus the toy figure to impart trapeze-like motion. The hand crank may be operatively connected to the pulley mechanism by a clutch such that when the crank handle is released the figure can continue to swing.
British Pat. No. 732,401 discloses an acrobatic type of toy. The toy acrobat pivots freely about its arms, and the other ends of the arms are fixed to a rotating shaft. A crank and pulley mechanism rotates the shaft to impart acrobatic-like movement.
While such toys produce acrobatic and trapeze-like movements, they are unsuitable for use with very young children. In the case of children who are still in the crib age, a toy must be simple to operate, rugged, have few and simple moving parts, and a minimum of stress points across any motion transfer mechanisms which could cause binding. Thus, the crank handle mechanism of the above-described patents are not particularly simple for a young child to operate. Moreover, the pulley mechanisms are susceptible of slippage, and the compound gear mechanisms of the '721 British patent may be susceptible to binding or breakage.